• This is a political forum that is non-biased/non-partisan and treats every person's position on topics equally. This debate forum is not aligned to any political party. In today's politics, many ideas are split between and even within all the political parties. Often we find ourselves agreeing on one platform but some topics break our mold. We are here to discuss them in a civil political debate. If this is your first visit to our political forums, be sure to check out the RULES. Registering for debate politics is necessary before posting. Register today to participate - it's free!

If the corona bug doesn't kill you then this one will!

No Hemiptera can kill with a single sting, and European Honey Bees aren't worth saving.
 
ttwtt78640 said:
Using real data always beats using models which are fed assumed data. We are months into the pandemic and still do not know the mortality rate, the spread rate or the percentage of infection. We do know that NY has more infections than anywhere else in the world, yet there is no travel ban/restriction for NY. That is simply moronic. We shutdown cruise ships for dozens of infections yet keep the NYC subways and airports open for thousands of infections.
Click to expand...

A travel ban for NY would be just as useless as the one from China. By the time it was suggested the virus spread had already happened.

NY City subways are necessary for transport since man NYC residents do not have cars. How did you expect doctors and nurses to actually get to their jobs?
 
Do they help or hurt the orange precious? That's the important thing.
 
Dittohead not! said:
Sounds like a delightful creature. The "kill with a single sting" might be a bit exaggerated:



The same is true of just about any bee or wasp.

But the threat to honeybees needs to be taken seriously. Honeybees are essential to a large part of our agricultural crops, i.e., our food. Unless we can learn to eat Asian wasps, then that could be a problem.
Click to expand...

Oh no no no no. They will put your arse in the hospital even if you are not allergic to regular bee stings. A coworker not allergic to bees got stung by one of those monster japanese hornets and was out for a couple weeks. The sting site swelled up like a softball.
 
Drawdown said:
Oh no no no no. They will put your arse in the hospital even if you are not allergic to regular bee stings. A coworker not allergic to bees got stung by one of those monster japanese hornets and was out for a couple weeks. The sting site swelled up like a softball.
Click to expand...

Sounds painful. I'll pass on being stung, thanks, and just take your word for it.
 
This reminds me of a type of ant I once encountered in the Amazon basin. Locals called it a "buna," and warned me that it has a powerful sting. I caught one between two sticks and watched it stick its stinger out. It was a long one for sure. I later read about it being called a "bullet ant" in English because being stung felt like being shot. Lucky me, I didn't get stung. They look like an over sized carpenter ant, maybe an inch and a half long.

Edit: I found a picture of one:

bullet-ant.jpg

We don't need those critters in the USA. Not sure if they would survive, but let's hope not.
 
Last edited:
Dittohead not! said:
Sounds painful. I'll pass on being stung, thanks, and just take your word for it.
Click to expand...

They are regulars at my crib but usually only one to 3. You can hear them if they are nearby. They are loud flyers. I usually just go in for a break and when I come out they are gone. I have mixed up with a few of them, and knock on wood, have come out of it better than they did so far. Like I posted earlier, get a hit on it and it is done. Their bodies are brittle and they snap in half.
 
spud_meister said:
No Hemiptera can kill with a single sting, and European Honey Bees aren't worth saving.
Click to expand...

Oh there you are.
I was about to post, "25 million Australians are shaking their heads at North Americans worried about wasp stings."
 
spud_meister said:
European Honey Bees aren't the only pollinator, and they're only used because they can be trucked around vast fields of monoculture.
Click to expand...

But they are an important pollinator. I understand mosquitoes are pollinators as well. Maybe we could use them.
 
Dittohead not! said:
But they are an important pollinator. I understand mosquitoes are pollinators as well. Maybe we could use them.
Click to expand...

They're important to the current model of agriculture. A move away from monoculture would eliminate the necessity for European Honey Bees, increase native pollinators, and reduce the need for pesticides.
 
spud_meister said:
They're important to the current model of agriculture. A move away from monoculture would eliminate the necessity for European Honey Bees, increase native pollinators, and reduce the need for pesticides.
Click to expand...

Then why is it, do you think, that agribusiness doesn't move away from monoculture?
 
spud_meister said:
They're important to the current model of agriculture. A move away from monoculture would eliminate the necessity for European Honey Bees, increase native pollinators, and reduce the need for pesticides.
Click to expand...

Or.............we could stop eating fruits and vegetables altogether, and start eating nothing but beef jerky! There may be a few disadvantages to that particular diet, so ill have to mull it over... Lol
 
ModerationNow! said:
Or.............we could stop eating fruits and vegetables altogether, and start eating nothing but beef jerky! There may be a few disadvantages to that particular diet, so ill have to mull it over... Lol
Click to expand...

Most of the food you eat is either wind pollinated, or could be pollinated by other bee species, wasps, butterflies, flies, beetles, hummingbirds, microbats or other small mammals. Hell, most ddietary staples that need to be pollinated are from the New World anyway, and evolved sans Apis mellifera.
 
spud_meister said:
Most of the food you eat is either wind pollinated, or could be pollinated by other bee species, wasps, butterflies, flies, beetles, hummingbirds, microbats or other small mammals. Hell, most ddietary staples that need to be pollinated are from the New World anyway, and evolved sans Apis mellifera.
Click to expand...

Right, and everything we grow for food is exactly the same as its wild ancestors. Sure.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom